As our city rebuilds and grows in the next few years, many more people will commute to campus and other areas, adding to traffic congestion, particularly during peak hours. We can address this issue by building new roads and expanding existing roads. A more enlightened approach might be to expand mass transportation. But these solutions are enormously expensive and take years to implement.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a technology that could cut traffic in half, would cost nothing to implement, and is available tomorrow morning? To make it even more attractive, this technology will reduce global warming (less pollution), ease the energy crisis (better use of gasoline), and make a shortage of parking spaces a thing of the past. Commuters could even make new friends in their neighborhoods and arrive at their workplace free of the stress from driving every day.

Of course, the title of this proposal gives away the identity of this low technology solution to traffic congestion and a host of other societal problems. Carpooling. Why don’t more people do this already? Many people cite conflicting schedules, the need for flexibility, and often simply being too shy or not knowing who to ask. The simple solution is to create a social networking internet site, specifically to help commuters find compatible carpool partners. Such a program also needs heavy promotion and incentives provided by the city.

Neither The University of Alabama nor the City of Tuscaloosa has a current program to promote carpooling other than a low key effort to tie into Birmingham's "Commute Smart". This is being done all over the world so there are many program to model. Now is the time!